The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood
by TheGoddessOfDuckTape
Summary: Artemis has always been an independent goddess who prefered to do things by herself as a capable young women (despite her tender age of 598) but when a man who wants to be the knight in shining armour in her fairy tale, she isn't sure whether or not to let him in. Come, read and laugh as this girl goes through the multiple phases of her love with Orion.
1. If Poetry Could Kill

**Hey everyone!**

**And I started this new fanfic to celebrate Percy's birthday~ So don't forget to make blue cupcakes! ;)**

**And thank you autumnflame for beta-reading!**

**This is the first chapter of my new fanfic about Artemis and her past life. I hope you enjoy this! :)**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ If Poetry could Kill

Artemis let her fingers slide from the bowstring and felt it quiver under her grasp. The arrow shot toward its target and hit the eye of the deer.  
She tried not to cause any unnecessary pain to her prey if she could help it. It was simply unjust to harm a part of nature in such a way.

The carefully shot arrow pierced the deer's exposed pupil. Blood spurt from the eye at first but then slowed to a trickle as the pressure died down.

The galloping deer immediately crumpled to the ground, its legs failing and folding into itself.

'With a force like that, the arrow should've pierced the brain…' she thought. 'Better revive it.'

Artemis walked over to the carcass, gently pulled the arrow out of its eye and wiped it clean before slotting it into her quiver. A glowing orb travelled from her hand to its body.

Life sprang back into its eyes and it nuzzled her hand. Artemis smiled.  
"Off you go now! Just… Go. Off you get!" she cooed.

It was tiring encouraging the fawn to leave.

"Please! Go back to your mum… or dad… or something…" she continued urgently.

Around the clearing, there were obvious sounds of crunching leaves and snapping twigs. The deer's ears pricked up.

"Please, there is someone coming. Please just go."

The young fawn remained stubborn. Artemis was seriously reconsidering giving the young deer back its life.

"Fine, get out of here and meet me here tomorrow. I'll get you food, now go!" Artemis said exasperated.

Artemis wasn't sure what it was that made the deer gallop away; it was either her wonderful negotiation skills, the fact that she had promised food, or… Because of a cocky looking man stomping around the clearing with a smug grin on his face.

"Hey Artemis," her annoyingly annoying brother said. "I finally have proof that I'm older than you."

The goddess did a mental face-palm. She had gotten rid of one very frustrating creature only to have it replaced with one even more frustrating.  
'I so want the deer back now!' Artemis said to herself.

"I'm telling you, we were both born at the same time!"

"I have composed a limerick of such proof," Apollo said, making himself seem even grander.

"I am really old,

For that I have been told.

Whenever I see a bucket,

I feel a lot like a Muppet!

I wish Artemis was bald!"

At the end of his poetic masterpiece, Apollo had a triumphant smirk.  
"And this is true because it rhymes!"  
After much consideration, he added, "And it was written by me!"

Artemis was so disgusted by his limerick that she became speechless.

"It's okay Artemis," he reassured, "Your puny brain cells probably couldn't handle that. I'll give you a haiku instead!"

"I am really old,

Or so I have been told.

I am so awesome!"

Artemis rolled her eyes and pointed out a mistake.  
"Line two only has six syllables… Do you want a suggestion of what you could replace it with?"

Apollo pondered over his mistake.  
"Why not? I'm glad you're finally taking an interest in the Art of Poetry!"

"You are such a big doofus," Artemis shot back.

"Oh, thanks Artie! That works really well!" he said graciously (if that was even possible for him).

"I am really old.

You are such a big doofus,

I am so awesome!" he recited.

Artemis physically face-palmed and simply ignored her agonisingly annoying twin brother.

If horrible poetry could kill immortals, Artemis would be six feet under. Being the mature person that she was, she simply went back to inspecting the grass and gently tugging it.

A large clump of grass came loose and dirt-covered roots were pulled out of the ground. Artemis widened her eyes in surprise of her own strength and dumped the plant back into the dirt before covering it up as best as she could.

Flustered because of her not-very-environmental actions, Artemis stood up, brushed some dirt off her dress and ran in the general direction of the throne room of Mount Olympus.

"I'm still older than you!" Apollo added.

* * *

"Artemis!" a fatherly voice called. "Artemis, come over here," Zeus yelled from his throne.

Artemis got up from her position on the floor and put a ribbon in her book to mark its page.  
"Yes father?"

Zeus cleared his throat and stroked his goatee that he had insisted on growing because apparently, it was "macho".  
"This is Orion the hunter. He has committed many great deeds on Earth, so I have considered giving him immortality," he explained.

"Hi…" Artemis said trailing her words. After all, it wasn't every day that her father invited a mortal up to Olympus to be given immortality (apart from Hercules because that was a very special case).

Orion walked down the steps to Artemis and kissed her hand.  
"You're so beautiful, that even the sun and moons in the sky cannot compare," he wooed before giving her an alluring wink.

Artemis flushed tomato red and swatted his face away.  
"Well that's ironic, because I'm the goddess of the moon and my brother's the god of the sun…" she rambled trying to distract herself. "Wait… are you saying I'm prettier than my brother? And it's weird if you're saying I cannot compare to myself… Because I am me… So I should be fully capable of comparing to myself… Aren't I? Urgh…" Before long, Artemis had created a paradox involving the astral beings, Orion and herself.

"I… Uh… yeah… whatever…" she said after confusing herself.

Zeus' flickered between the hero and one of his many, many daughters.  
"A note for Artemis, Orion's a very gifted archer so why don't you take him to the woods to show him your skills?" he suggested, keeping the conversation moving.

"Gifted archer eh?" Artemis said with a twitching eye. No one got away with embarrassing her. No one!  
'I'll beat his face off, that'll teach him!' Artemis thought.

A fiery aura encircled the angry goddess and even Zeus was slightly intimidated.

"Uh… I'll leave you two to get acquainted then… Toodles!" he proclaimed before teleporting off to his next Zumba class.

"So…" Artemis said glaring at her latest arch-nemesis.

"So?" he asked with a flicker of hope in his eye.

"Off to the woods then," she yelled storming off back into the Olympian Woods.

"I'd love to see what kind of things a lovely lady such as yourself would do in the woods?" he called out loud enough for her to hear. "Pat the bunnies, sing to the birds?"

Artemis shuddered at his voice, with her hate for him growing every second and walked even faster.

**So…How'd you like that? Tell me below what you thought about this first chapter. I promise that for this fanfic, I will reply to every single question you have about the story! I'll swear on the River Styx too! ;)**

**See you next time~**


	2. It's a Work in Progress

**Sorry updating took so long! My entire chapter just deleted itself! I hope you guys understand how I had to write this twice.**

**To TheQueenOfLint:  
Thanks for your review! Although I'm not sure if I like you announcing my first name to the rest of the world though… Apart from that, I'm sure having fun writing this! See? Look at how happy I look! :|**

**To Guest:  
1) I'm probably only going to have time to do two updates every week as long as my computer doesn't crash again… *glares at laptop*  
2) My other story should have around 50 chapters and so I think this chapter will only have approximately 25 chapters seeing as I don't have so much to work with. Be warned that this is only an assumption…**

**To teamleo4:  
Hehe… I ship them too! Well… That is why I wrote a fanfic with Orion + Artemis after all… And I'll keep up my updating as long as you guys keep up your support~ ;)**

**To ****Avidya Karma:  
*sighs* I can't believe I traded all those reviews, follows and faves for two cupcakes… I am glad that you like this. Hope you read my fanfic more often! :D**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter and keep in mind that all this happens before Artemis and Athena pledge to be maidens forever.**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ It's a Work in Progress

Artemis looked around the scenery for potential shooting targets. An apple stem hanging from a tree branch? Even a novice could get that! A passing bird? No, then Artemis would have to waste all that energy reviving the bird!

'Wonderful…' she said to herself. 'Absolutely wonderful!' she grinned after spotting the perfect target.

She eyed the golden quiver that Orion had strapped to his back.  
"Shoot a wall, shoot a fountain. I don't care as long as it's an inanimate object," she said, listing her criteria.

Orion took an arrow molten from gold out of his quiver and turned his head around to look for something suitable. He seemed to have found one so he notched the arrow's end to the bowstring. He aimed and shot… a tree. Which actually made sense because, after all, they were in a forest…

Artemis scoffed at what a simple shot he had made and raised her bow before taking a silver arrow out and aiming for the arrow that Orion had already shot.

She let the arrow fly and it plunged into the golden one. As the silver arrow went in deeper, the gold one spilt in half and disintegrated.

Orion's jaw slightly parted and it was obvious that he was trying to hide his shock.  
"How did your silver arrow dissolve my golden one?!" he asked in both amazement and jealously.

Artemis gave him a snarky look. She wasn't really trying to show off, she just wanted to show Orion that just because she was a girl, it didn't mean that she was any less capable or skilled than he was.  
"Did it ever occur to you that a Goddess of Archery would have awesome archery skills and enchanted arrows that can dissolve ANY natural substance in the world?" she asked.

"No… Not really. It never came across my mind," he said, shrugging.

At that moment, the infuriated goddess seriously wanted to give him a memorable slap.  
"In other words, the arrows of a goddess can easily destroy those of a puny mortal! There is simply no way they can compare."

"I'm immortal now," he corrected. He took a swig from his canteen of nectar hanging around his neck to prove it. "See?"

"Okay then… The arrows of a 598 year old goddess can easily destroy those of a mortal who has only just recently been granted immortality!" Artemis said, rewording her claim.

"Ew… You're 598?" he asked in surprised and disgust. "But you look like you're…"

The huntress narrowed her eyes. Was there any way to get facts through his skull and into his empty brain?  
"Sweetie," she drawled sarcastically, "That's what immortality does to you."

Orion made the first duck face in the entire history of the world.  
"Maybe you're too old for me…" he mused as he seemed to reconsider his plans.

Artemis raised her heels and stood on her toes to pivot away.  
"Tell Zeus I give up on you. You're an impossible case," she called to the man behind her.

And so Orion stood in the Olympian clearing alone.

* * *

"And seriously! He thinks that he can just waltz into Olympus, wow my dad and get me really, really angry!" she shrieked. "And he was all like, 'Eurgh… You're too old for me!' I'M too old for HIM?! What is that even supposed mean?!" Artemis ranted.

Athena was sitting next to her angry friend and doing her best to reassure her.  
"If it's any consolation, I'm not getting anywhere with my relationship with Poseidon…" she said trying to make her best friend feel better.

Artemis stopped talking and looked Athena in the eyes. The huntress was the only soul in Olympus who knew about her secret feelings for the sea god.  
"Athena, you have to know that you don't get a guy to like you by being competitive with him, right?" Winning the title of the patron of the capital of Greece wasn't going to help the goddess of wisdom with her love life.

"Artie! I always thought that you were the type to support feminism! Just because we are in love with them doesn't mean that we shouldn't show them the extent of our true power… And besides, girls are always competitive with guys they like," she explained theoretically.

Artemis frowned and thought about how she always thought when she was around Orion. 'Angry! Boiling blood! Stomach in a knot!' she replied to herself.

"After all, hate is only love, hiding behind a giant wall of denial," Athena told Artemis philosophically.

"Wait… On the topic of love and hate, what about Orion? You... hate him… and he… seems to kind of like you… and he… he's a guy… with nice hair… and functioning organs…" she said, attempting to hook her friend up with some random guy. Athena raised her eyebrows repeatedly causing Artemis to giggle.

The moon goddess recomposed herself and then raised an eyebrow.  
"Seriously? Seriously? I really, really don't like him, okay? Just… No… He has a horrible personality!" Artemis said, throwing out arguments in her defence.

"Come on… Turn that frown upside-down! You know you like him! You~ Like~ Him~" she sang in tune. Athena even bothered to make a song out of it!

You really like him~  
You really like him~  
You really like Orion~  
You really like him~

(to the tune of Happy Birthday)

Artemis face-palmed. Sometimes, Athena could be even worse than Apollo! 'At least Apollo has some kind of originality…' she told herself.

"What?!" Athena asked. She sniffed, "It's a work in progress!"

"Clearly!" Artemis retorted.


	3. Dad, I Hate You

**YAY! It's almost the end of winter! Can't wait for it to get warmer!**

**To Avidya Karma:  
Oh please! The Unbreakable Vow can easily be broken! All you have to do is break the promise and die! Toodles Kathy~**

**To Fairytail5evaJCL:  
AW! Thanks RoRo! Of course I had to make Artemis and Athena friends. After all, they both swear to be maidens forever in the future… Keep showing your support! :D**

**To Terravolt:  
Yeah… I understand that as a writer, I'm not a very accomplished one. I'm in Year 8, I go to a school where we're expected to have perfect marks (that's the pressure of going to an Australian Selective school) and I don't really have many readers. Thanks for picking out those errors. I'm not going to change the entire story though because that would affect the plot too much, but I'll keep it in mind for any future stories or chapters! Too be honest, you're the first reviewer who has ever corrected my work apart from someone who mentioned that I got the name of Calypso's father wrong. I thank you for being so honest with me! And I swear I am not lying or being sarcastic. I'm serious! :) As an after note: I made this story to tell readers why I think that Artemis became a goddess of ****virginity, midwives and childbirth. In the current timeframe of this fanfiction, she is only the goddess of the moon and archery. Or at least until the end of the story…**

**To Yogurtisyummy:  
Thanks for the encouragement! And I will keep on writing. Even if I get Writer's Block in which case I'll either continue on writing without a plot or kill everybody off, therefore ending the story!**

**To Goddess Of Fangirls:  
Yeah… I always figured that Athena and Poseidon liked each other at some point too! And it's okay that Terravolt posted those reviews. If they were honest opinions, then I don't see a problem with them being in the reviews. And besides, it's not like she was full-on flaming me … But thanks for the concern anyway! :)  
EXAMPLE OF A REAL FLAME: OMG! You are like such a terrible writer and your stories never have any plot! You should like, just stop writing fanfics and delete your account altogether! P.S. Yor a horibl spelur.  
Now, that is a real flame.**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ Dad, I Hate You

"What do you mean I have to?!" Artemis whined. It simply wasn't fair!

"You two are both hunters and I don't see why you can't bond over your similarities!" he shot back.

"Do I get a say in this?" Orion asked leaning against the wall. "The conversation is all about me after all…" he reasoned.

"Yes!" Artemis responded while Zeus roared "No!"  
The moon goddess and her father both assumed that Orion didn't want to work with Artemis either.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Artemis whispered rather loudly as she walked over to the wall to drag Orion into the conversation as well. "Tell him! Come on Orion, tell him!" she insisted.

"Well, your grace…" Orion slowly preached to the king of Olympus. "I think I really enjoy the company of your daughter! In fact, I'd love to spend more time with her!" he said, grinning.

Zeus instantly brightened,  
"Well, in that case, his vote counts too! All in favour of you two spending more time together?" he asked, directing the question to Orion and his daughter.

Artemis started vigorously shaking her head. 'No, no, no! In that case, his vote doesn't count," she reconsidered.

"Okay then, all in favour of Orion's vote counting?" Zeus asked again.

Orion chuckled.  
"This is wonderful! You guys are voting on whether or not I should be allowed to vote in the vote of whether not Artemis and I should spend more time together!"

Zeus chuckled as well and occasionally gave small giggles. Orion was next to Artemis and chuckling at the sentence that he had just said but Artemis simply couldn't find the joke. It wasn't funny at all!  
'I don't want to be the one stuck to an infuriating man,' she thought.

Zeus raised his hand up and so did Orion.

"Your vote doesn't count!" Artemis protested. "We're trying to figure out whether or not you should be allowed to vote and therefore, you don't get to vote!"

"And all against?" Zeus dictated.

Artemis shot her hand in the sky firmly.

"Okay Orion, you can vote," he decided.

"What?!" Artemis shrieked. "It was a tie!"

Zeus cleared his throat while he thought of an excuse.  
"I'm the king of Gods so my vote counts twice!" he insisted.

"Dad?"

"Yeah…" he replied to her call.

"I hate you."

* * *

Artemis popped an ambrosia square into her mouth. She then ate another.

"Are you really going to eat all day?" Orion asked impatiently.

She still had a gigantic pile of golden delights left on her even more gigantic plate.

"Yush!" she replied as she stuffed even more into her mouth.

"But it's so boring…" he complained. "There's nothing interesting in your room…"

"So? That's your problem for wanting to spend more time with me," Artemis seethed. She raised her raised both her arms in the air glamorously. "And this is my life so you brought this upon yourself."

"Hey Artie!" a familiar voice called. Athena's face poked through the door from the corridor. "I'm done with the Iliad and your copy of Immortals Weekly. Do you want them bac-"  
She stopped when she noticed Orion in Artemis' room. "Oh~" she sang out. "A guy in your room~" She said it in a way where she split the word 'room' into two syllables. "I'll leave you two to it, Artie," she said with a wink. Despite Athena's age of 637, she could be extremely immature at times. Which is kind of ironic because she is the goddess of wisdom after all…  
Athena skipped happily through the corridor of Olympian dorms for all gods under the age of 1800.

"Maybe we should do what she says," Orion suggested.

Artemis then slapped Orion. Because she felt like it. Causing him to get a nose bleed. A nose bleed. With actual golden ichor pouring out.

Artemis dropped her jaw and covered her mouth with her hand. Small chunks of ambrosia fell onto her bed but she couldn't care less because the ichor was staining her bed even more badly.  
She shooed him off the bed.  
"GO! GO! GO TO THE BATHROOM! GET OUT! FIRST DOOR TO YOUR LEFT!" she said kicking him out of her room. This possibly added to his blood loss.

Artemis went back to sit on her bed while Orion washed up. 'I guess it's possible that I underestimate my strength… A lot…" she thought.

"Are you done yet?" Artemis called out. "Orion?! You done yet?" He was taking an awfully long time in there…

A piercing scream came from a certain door to the left side of the corridor.  
"ARGH!"

**And so that's the end of the chapter. I hope you guys read my next one too when it's up .**

**I hope you liked this and if you don't please review and tell me how to improve it or give me suggestions for how the plot should go. I'm open to ideas!**


	4. The Bathroom Incident

**Hey guys! I'm back~ Now I'm going to reply to your reviews. There are only two this time, but… I have to it anyway so…**

**To The immortal:  
Yes, I will make them rival each other at some point and that was what I had in mind in the first place when I read this. Thanks for the suggestion anyway! . *hugs***

**To Goddess Of Fangirls:  
'!' Is that a good '!', or a bad '!'? Or an average '!'? Or is it a mediocre '!'? O.O**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ The Bathroom Incident

"ARGH!"

Artemis shot her head up from stuffing herself. What was that? 'He had better not cut himself or anything,' she thought.

Whimpers could be heard coming from the bathroom.

Artemis got up from her comfortable position and walked cautiously to her golden bathroom.

Orion was curled up on the tiled floor crying. He was doing this in front of an open cupboard.

Artemis crouched down to his eye level.  
"What's wrong with you?" she asked emotionlessly.

He croaked something undistinguishable while pointing to the inside of the cupboard.

"What is it?" she asked annoyed, poking him every syllable.

"Y-You…" Orion stuttered, "You have more hair products than I do…" he whined. "Why?"

Artemis looked into the cupboard to see what he was talking about. Behind the door, she found Aphrodite's huge horde of makeup, skin products, hair products, tanning creams, moisturiser, and so much more. It was like looking into a dragon's den and finding treasures only in this case, it was looking into another monster's hideout and finding her valuables instead.

Artemis shook her head, denying his accusation.  
"No, no, no!" she explained. "These aren't mine! They're Aphrodite's! All major goddesses under the age of 1800 share one bathroom!"

A flash of surprise came across his face, embarrasses of his misunderstanding. He got back onto his feet and tried to act as if his little outburst had never happened.  
"Please, forget that ever happened," he pleaded.

Artemis smirked. She liked the fact that she had the upper hand over the one person she hated more than Apollo.  
"Like I can forget it now," she responded. "Especially not with my photographic memory." She was lying about her photographic memory despite the fact that she really did have quite a good memory.

Orion looked crestfallen and looked for a loophole out of the most embarrassing secret he had being revealed to the entire world.  
"Then can you at least promise not to tell anyone about it?" he reworded.

"Well… I might want to tell Athena… After all, she is my best friend… And we might tell Hestia because we're pretty close too…" she listed her conditions.

"No! No! Please, no one else!" he whimpered.

"Then I'm afraid that our deal is off," she taunted. Artemis turned around knowing what would happen next.

"Okay, fine! But no one else! Okay?" Orion bargained.

"Anyone I wish," she countered.

"Fine then! Just don't go around telling everyone- just people you trust, okay?" he grovelled.

Artemis like it when he grovelled. It was practically the only time she ever enjoyed being close to him. It was… befitting of his personality. He deserved it after continuously flirting with her.

"Good boy," she crooned patronisingly, patting on the head before walking away. After all, she still had a plateful of ambrosia squares sitting on her soft, warm bed.

* * *

Orion scratched his head. Young 'teenage' goddesses (who range from age 13-1800) were so hard to understand! They show vulnerability at first making them all cute, then they try to be competitive making them seem even cuter and then they blackmail you… making them just straight up hot.

Blackmail was awesome. It showed extreme capability and a demonstration of both micro-managing and excellent usage of informative assets.  
Basically in English, that means she can stand up for herself and she knows how to use her different sources wisely.

But Orion wasn't ready for that kind of a girl yet. All the mortal girls back on Earth were giggly, girly and attention-seeking. All of them would take any chance that they could to throw themselves at him which was part of the reason why his servants always kept bandages, medicinal wine and other supplies ready just in case.

Why wasn't Artemis like all those other girls? Why couldn't she be giggly, girly and attention-seeking? It'd be so much easier winning over her heart if she was like that… 'But then again,' he thought. 'I probably wouldn't really like her so much if she lacked those defining qualities…' He realised that Artemis' attitude to her love life wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Artemis had gone to Athena's room to get back her copy of the Iliad and Immortals Weekly earlier.

She was flipping through the pages of the magazine and reading about the love lives of the gods, advertisements for Dionysus' newest wine recipe and godly advice columns.

Artemis found a particularly good page with an article about the nymphs and naiads organising a protest to support feminism. She was so glad that the Olympian residents were finally taking their lives into their own hands. Personally, she found it extremely encouraging and motivational.

A giggling goddess skipped into Artemis' room.  
"Hey Artie!" Aphrodite bubbled. "I think that I can help you."

Artemis frowned. What problem? Was there something that needed to be fixed? A lantern that needed to be refilled with paraffin oil? An unexplainable crack in the walls?  
Just to be sure, the moon goddess looked at the multiple lanterns spaced evenly along the walls and the limestone walls were perfectly flat (just the way Hephaestus designed them). Nope, no problem at all.  
"What are you talking about? I don't have a problem…" Artemis responded confused.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes.  
"Honey, I'm the goddess of love! Of course I can tell when a fellow Olympian has feelings. Especially feelings of pure affection!" she gasped, clasping her hands together filled with hope.

Artemis sighed and dropped her head into her open palms. Let the torture begin.

**Thanks for reading this chapter! Please review/fave/follow to show your appreciation if you like it! After all, it's just two clicks away.**

**See you guys later~  
**


	5. Tradition is so Yesterday

**Hey everyone!**

**Thanks for reading my story! *Instant mood swing* I haven't started my art assignment yet… :'( I'm going to die… I had to read a makeup tutorial to write this chapter… :\**

**Please read my other fanfic 'The Adventures of a Lovesick Idiot'! Personally, I think the plot is more developed for that one.**

**To Hallowtail:  
Yup! All fixed up now! Thanks for noticing. :D**

**To Goddess Of Fangirls:  
*blush blush* Thanks! :)**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ Tradition is so Yesterday

"Come on!" she encouraged. "Just try it on…" Aphrodite begged.

Artemis shook her head.  
"No," she insisted. "Just no. I am not wearing that," she said gesturing to the sparkly, silver chiton.

"Why not?" the over-excited goddess asked. "You always wear chitons anyways. What's wrong with adding a little sparkle?"

"Firstly, because I wear plain white chitons, and that looks like the god of glitter paint spewed on it. And secondly, because my clothes, go down to my ankles. That thing," she said gesturing wildly again before continuing, "Goes mid-thigh! Tartarus no!"

"Come on!" she persisted, "It's not even that revealing!"

Artemis snatched over the chiton and held it up in front of her body.  
"Look at how low cut it is!" she complained. "It's going to show… EVERYTHING!"

"Oh please, chitons show arms, and underarms, and uh… neck, face, and um… feet?" she argued pathetically. "What's wrong with showing just a tiny bit more? Orion will like you for it~" she singsong-ed.

In that single moment, Artemis hated Aphrodite for bringing up the infuriating man. But she hated herself even more for feeling her heart flutter a bit and for feeling slightly inclined to put the dress on.  
"Still, no," she said glaring and trying to remain strong.

"Okay, then…" Aphrodite sighed, giving in. "How about this gold one instead?" she asked holding up the exact same dress up except with a different colour.

* * *

Orion walked past an ornate dining table. And as he walked past, he heard a bump from under it. An 'Ouch' followed.

He bent down to lift up the tablecloth. He found a shivering goddess under it who seemed to be hiding from something… or someone.

"Artemis? What are doing down there?" he asked confused. "Are you sick or something?" He reached down even further to feel her forehead.

Artemis curled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She slowly scuttled around with her feet and made a 180 degrees turn, facing the wall.

Orion poked her and poked her again.  
"Artie. Artie. Artie. Artie. Artie," he repeated, poking her with each syllable.

Artemis whipped around causing her ponytail to slap him in the face.  
"Shhh!" she shushed him, bringing her forefinger to her lips. Artemis pulled Orion under the table as well. "We can't let her hear us!"

"Who? Why?" he questioned, bewildered. Clearly he didn't understand the magnitude of this situation.

"Shut it!" she whispered very loudly. Then she hit him on the head, because she felt like it. "If she finds me, she'll make me wear this short monstrosity that shows everything, and she'll give me these high heel sandals that are impossible to wear, lessons on how to win over guys and don't even get me started on the makeup!" she begged. If Aphrodite found out where the runaway goddess was hiding, she'd be so dead.

"Oh, in that case…" Orion said as he got up and out from under the table. "OH, ARTEMIS!" he cried, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UNDER THE TABLE, IN THE DINING HALL!" he continued very loudly and obviously.

Artemis pulled him back down.  
"What do you think you're doing?! If I go down, I'm taking you down with me," she said heroically.

Orion chuckled,  
"I'm not getting 'taken down'," he corrected, "You are, and I'm going to enjoy watching you get 'taken down'."

There was a small zipping sound and glimmering air as Aphrodite teleported into the dining hall.  
"Where is she Orion? I know she's here somewhere, don't you dare lie to me or I'll make your love life a train wreck," she threatened, very, very intimidatingly.

"Don't worry," Orion reassured her. "I want to see her wear a short monstrosity too."

Aphrodite beamed.

"And those high heel sandals," he added, "And the makeup."

"Do you want to help me get her out?" she asked deviously.

"Why not?" he replied.

* * *

"Okay, now that you've washed your hair, the moisturiser goes on first," Aphrodite directed thrusting a green bottle into Artemis' face.

Artemis was tied down to a golden chair by duct tape while Aphrodite applied assorted chemicals onto her face. Orion sat a few feet away laughing at all the pain that the huntress was going through.

"Normally, I'd put concealer next, but you seem to have perfect skin! Anyway, next, the foundation. Wait, do you want liquid, cream or powder?" the devil asked thoughtfully.

"Uh… None?" Artemis replied.

Aphrodite gave her a disapproving look before putting weird cream onto her face.  
"Now, I'll just set your foundation for you," she said, bending down and putting a really tickly brush with powder all over her face.

Clearly, Artemis had a hard time holding back her giggles.

"And after that, we need to put on a highlighter," she said, talking to herself.

Artemis couldn't wait for this to end.

"Little blush…" she sang out. "And then filling put the eyebrows~"  
"Done!" she yelled.

Artemis sighed, relieved.

"Now that I've prepared your face, we'll do eye makeup!"

"What?" Artemis asked, infuriated.

The only words that Artemis managed to catch were, "Eye-shadow primer", "Eye-shadow goes on next~", "Your eyes look like mutated bananas", "Hmm… This eyeliners really nice!" as Aphrodite zipped her hands around her face. After this experience, Artemis was very glad that the goddess of love had allowed her to take a shower and wash her hair without direct supervision.

"Look down, now," Aphrodite instructed, "I need to put some mascara now."

Artemis did as she was told. Anything to get out of the duct-taped golden chair!

"Moving onto your lips," Aphrodite told her. She took some assorted lip balms, glosses and lipsticks out of her bottom-less purse. "I wonder which colour suits you…"

"No, no, no!" Artemis shrieked. She really wanted to teleport away but the gold restrains limited her powers (Remember how Hephaestus caught Ares and Aphrodite in a golden net to embarrass them? Apparently, that's how it works…). "I'll stick to tradition! Anything but the lips! NO!" she cried. It wasn't like she was suffering from the Chinese Water Torture…

"Tradition is like so yesterday," Aphrodite shot back.

Orion's eyebrows looked like they wanted to shoot off his forehead.  
"You're scared of makeup?" he mocked. "What's that called? Makeup-phobia?"

"It's actually Calligynephobia," she corrected.

**So… There goes a really bad chapter. I'm sorry for not making it an action packed one and instead stuffing it full of Aphrodite being mean! I'll try and get a better chapter next time… :'(**


	6. Sir Percival the Cat

**Hi~ I'm back! :D**

**I think I'm going to update more often for this story because I've already got 30 chapters and it's got a way more developed plot. I encourage you read my other fanfic. It's Caleo~**

**To Goddess Of Fangirls:  
Thanks Goddess Of Fangirls! You've been doing so much to support my fanfic! *hugs***

**To TheQueenOfLint:  
Thanks for saying that! :) I'll eat that cookie and give half to autumnflame!**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ Sir Percival the Cat

Artemis felt like a freaking doll. Her face was caked with stuff and Aphrodite had forbidden her from touching it, or brushing it, or just wiping it all off. For once, her eyes felt heavy and lethargic from the weight of the chemicals. Her lips felt the worst because of the fatty substance Artemis could feel every time she moved.

Right now, Orion was outside the room because she was changing. And Aphrodite was right next to her… watching everything that happened (it sounds really creepy but just put those thoughts out of your head). She was standing there to make sure that Artemis wasn't going to teleport away, rip up the chiton, or suicide to avoid wearing it.

"Faster!" Aphrodite urged, "You call that putting on a chiton?!" She was really, really aggressive.

'Does she really want to see me wear something girly that badly?' Artemis thought.

"That's pathetic! Even my grandpa could put on a dress faster than you can!" she yelled. "No," she corrected, "Even Apollo could put on a dress faster than you can!"

It sparked something in Artemis, causing her to put on the dress as if she was going to die if she didn't. Before she knew it, she had the chiton on perfectly with a metal clasp in place.  
"Ha! Bet Apollo can't do it with my style!" Artemis said, trying to find a bright side to her horrible situation.

Aphrodite clasped her hands together in delight and Artemis swore that she saw a teardrop come out of those kaleidoscope eyes.  
"We have to show Orion," she said. "Wait, put on the sandals first."

One look at the sandal straps and Artemis knew that she couldn't do it alone. After 598 years of being a goddess, she still hadn't learned how to do the hard ones yet.  
'Some goddess I am,' she thought. 'I should make a note to learn how to tie shoes properly…'

Aphrodite then realised that Artemis didn't know how to secure sandal straps so she bent down to do it for her. Aphrodite looked at the huntress disapprovingly.  
"If anyone's watching this scene, they'll think I'm the mother!" Aphrodite complained. "And everyone knows that I'm way too young and beautiful to be a mum!"

When her shoe straps were done, Artemis said reluctantly,  
"Let's get this fashion show over. The quicker we're done, the better." She walked towards the door.

"Ooh… Good idea, maybe we can do a fashion runway show!" she squealed.

"No," Artemis said forcefully. "No more torture."

"Well there goes my fun…"

Aphrodite reached forward to open the door and Artemis mentally braced herself for the impact of Orion's mockery.

To her surprise, he stood there gaping and trying to form words.

"A-Artie! Y-you look like a g-girl," he stuttered out.

"There's a reason for that, you know."

Orion tried to cover up his mistake.  
"No, I m-mean-"

Artemis cut him off,  
"I know what you mean. Let's go hunting now, I'm dying to do something remotely interesting."

"You're going hunting in a dress?" he asked surprised. "It's pretty dangerous, I don't think anyone has ever done that before."

"Well, there's a first for everything," she countered. Artemis didn't know why but she simply enjoyed arguing with Orion. It didn't matter what she felt for him, she would always want to be competitive against him. 'No matter what happens in the future,' she thought, 'I'll always hate him. Always.'

* * *

"There! Can you get that?" Artemis asked pointing to a flock of passing doves. She really wanted someone to shoot a dove as payback on Aphrodite. After all, she was the goddess of doves…

"Sure," he replied, shooting one down with his golden arrow. "But I'm not sure if you can?" Orion taunted.

Artemis took a deep breath and counted to five really, really quickly. Powered by rage, she immediately took out her bow and notched an arrow just as quickly. The huntress had to calm herself down a bit so that she could get a steady and accurate shot.  
"Not going to lose to some no good show off," she muttered to herself.

The spinning arrow cut through the air and hit the dove right into the pupil. Artemis watched as the white bird spiralled down, eventually hitting the ground.

Artemis sighed. Despite the fact that she really didn't like Aphrodite at the moment, as the goddess of the Hunt, she was obliged to revive it.

She walked towards where she thought the bird had landed and Orion followed. When she reached the freshly killed dove, Artemis noticed that there was someone else already there.

A sleek, black cat was licking at the blood of the corpse.

Artemis couldn't resist patting it so she bent down and did so. The cat jumped up in fright and its bright green eyes were visible.

The goddess revealed her inner girl side and awed.  
"Isn't it adorable?!" she sighed. "Just look at it!" she said, lifting it up for Orion to see.

The cat didn't seem to enjoy it so Artemis put it back down. It meowed unhappily.

"Do you want this bird?" she asked lifting up the corpse.

The kitten gave puppy dog eyes (I don't even know if this is possible. Can cats even give puppy dog eyes?), begging for the food.

Artemis put the dead bird near the cat's mouth and waited for it to snatch it away. The cat meowed and looked hesitant and then grabbed the dove out of the goddess' fingers.

She tilted her head to the side.  
"I like you. I really, really like you," Artemis said. "Can I give you a name?"

The kitten gobbled up the bird and purred in appreciation (maybe even acceptance).

"I dub thee… Sir Percival!" Artemis decreed. "No… I have to give some titles… I dub thee Sir Percival the cat!"

"Uh… Artemis?" Orion asked, stepping into Artemis' little moment.

"What?" she shot back with a Level 6 glare.

"Have you even checked for Sir Percival the cat's gender?" he mentioned awkwardly.

The huntress lowered her head down to check and she flushed red.  
"It's okay," she said trying to pretend it didn't bother her at all. Artemis waved her hand in the universal gesture of 'whatever'. "We can call her Lady Percina (pronounced Percy-na) or something."

**So! Percy the cat makes a return to my fanfic! By the way, you'll understand this 'Percy the cat' reference if you read my other fanfiction, The Adventes of a Lovesick Idiot. Hope you read the other fanfic too! ^.^ Please do. :)**


	7. Anything but the Hair

**Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating in a while, but I am here now. He-he, somehow I managed to set off my dad's car alarm. =.='**

**Guest replies~ XD**

**To Fairytail5evaJCL:  
Thanks Ro-Ro! I love it too! X'D Thanks for your encouragement and the next 'chappie' is here… So… Yeah… And it's okay, at least you finished your VA in the end. Ms Profilio can't mark it down if it's actually on time! :)**

**To Goddess of Fangirls:  
*hugs you back* :) Seriously though, thanks for your unending support. I'll try to continue the plot as best as I can!**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ Anything but the Hair

Artemis sat grumpily on her bed. After an entire day of wearing ridiculously unpractical items of extreme vanity, she was extremely frustrated.

And Orion wasn't much help either.  
He was teasing her and verbally harassing her throughout the whole journey (jokingly of course). Crude comments about her hair, nails, shooting skill and the short chiton were the most mentioned. If it wasn't for his gorgeous hair, she would tear him apart, limb from limb.

"Maybe I can just leave his face intact…" she said thoughtfully.

And so after that horrifying experience, Artemis was curled in a position where her knees touched her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs. With an intricately embroidered towel wrapped tightly around her, she stroked Sir Percival the cat.

"You have any boy problems?" she asked the fellow female cat, expecting a response.

Percival gave a disgruntled purr and withdrew her small, furry head back in between her equally small and furry front legs.

Artemis nodded appreciatively and then decided not to trust the consultation of felines when needing solutions to human problems. 'If only Athena was here, and not trying to win over Poseidon's heart by beating him in everything…' she thought.

The goddess got up from her cramped position and stretched. It was hard walking after two hours of sitting down and moping about her bad day. She popped yet another ambrosia square into her mouth before walking towards the door.

Artemis walked past the door, through the hallway, past the bathroom and to the common area. The Olympian dorms were designed in a fashion where the girls dominated the left side, while the guys stayed on the other side of campus to avoid deadly contact of girl germs (its scientific name being Femalus Bacterium Eradica). The general areas such as the common area, kitchen, dining hall and library were in the middle.

She grabbed a random book off one of the bookshelves and plopped down on an armchair opposite another avid reader. Artemis was a whole nine-and-a-half pages into the intriguing novel before she realised that the boy opposite her was staring.

Artemis slowly lowered her book and looked around in case he was looking at someone else. She then sank down into the chair and tried to re-immerse herself into Iliad to avoid any awkwardness.

"Hey," he greeted.

The sad thing was, after living on Olympus for 598 mortal years, she still didn't know who everyone living in the Mount Olympus dorms was. To her, the boy could easily be some random person.

"Do… I know you?" she asked the brown-haired boy.

"Don't you know me? It's me! Hermes!" he chuckled.

Artemis nodded knowingly. The name rang a bell but it didn't seem very well known.  
"Ah… I know you… You're that guy… with the… uh… face." She had heard of the name Hermes on Immortals Weekly. He had won a medical prize or something…

"Yeah… descriptive. I'm the science geek around here," he explained to her. "It's one of the only things I'm actually good at. I'm pretty much average at anything else."

"But why bother with academics, we're gods and goddesses, we only need to specialise in our area of expertise. I'm good at hunting, Athena's just naturally smart, Dionysus can get drunk like nobody's business, Nemesis had really warped vales, Demeter makes cereal really well and the rest of them are mostly elemental. What's your skill?"

Hermes looked sadly at the ground.  
"I don't think that I have one. I'm just naturally untalented so I have to work harder than others. Usually, after doing all that, I'm still way lower than average. You didn't even know who I was…"

Artemis started feeling really bad about saying what she had. The guilt was making its way to her heart.  
"Don't worry," she comforted him. "You'll find something eventually."

The young god gave an unhopeful smile,  
"Thanks Artie."

* * *

After that very thought provoking conversation with Hermes, Artemis wasn't very sure that Olympian life was very fair anymore. She was guaranteed a spot on the High Council of Major Gods and Goddesses because of the usefulness of her skills and powers.

However, the high council didn't need an expert scientist as one of their members.

'If the time comes when I get accepted into the council and he doesn't, I'll give him my position,' she swore.

Athena sat next to Artemis checking for split ends.  
"Did you hear that?" she asked, raising her head suspiciously.

Artemis put her book down and listened hard. There were faint screams to be heard in the distance. They sounded quite feminine but from so far away, who could possibly tell?

The two girls got up and went out to check what was going on. A blurry dot was running towards the Olympian dormitories in the shape of a young girl, perhaps 14 or 15?

When she was closer, Artemis noticed that she was covered in blood and dirt. There were deep cuts all over body, and with the dirt everywhere, it was very likely that she would get infected. And die.

At last, she dropped to the floor right in front of the two shocked goddesses.  
"Help… help me please…" she trailed before shutting her eyelids and falling down dramatically.

Artemis and Athena gave each other a look. Neither of them knew what to do with her.  
"What now?" Artemis asked while Athena said, "She looks like a goddess," at the same time.

**I'm seriously sorry for this horrible chapter but I'll try to update soon. Maybe when my injured tailbone gets better… :'(**

**BYE~ TheGoddessOfDuckTape**


	8. The Bathroom Incident Part Deux

**PLEASE READ THIS! I'm opening a contest for you guys to post your randomest word via the reviews (if the word is so random that I don't even know what it means, please attach a definition too). I will use the three words that I find the most random and then use them in Chapter 10. I look forward to your entries!**

**YAY~ School holidays are FINALLY here! .**

**As you can see, I'm seriously trying to update more! :D And seriously failing… :'( Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and be sure to review, follow or fave.**

**To ****Fairytail5evaJCL:  
Thanks Ro! *hugs all round* All will be revealed soon (probably in this chapter), and no, it's not Calypso. The only character I used in both stories was Sir Percival the cat, okay? I curse dishonour both your family and your vache (Get it?) YOU'D BETTER UPDATE! I NEED TO SEE BLAZE FAINT~ PS, aren't you glad we missed a whole VA lesson on Wednesday?**

**To ArcherGirl12:  
Thanks for your concern! I don't know how but I somehow managed to injure my tailbone playing dodgeball. And the sad thing was, I was sitting out that day because I had a fever so technically, I wasn't even part of the game… :(**

**To Goddess of Fangirls:  
I already answered your question with the previous response. :) I still have to idea how to get injured in a dodgeball game without even being in the game. And the funny thing was that no one who was participating in that game threw a ball at me or tripped me over or anything… Go figure! He-he… That was one of my best lines.**

**To The Golden Sun:  
I actually want to thank you for being my latest reviewer. You encouraged me to get off the couch, grab my laptop, roll back onto the couch and write a chapter. You have no idea how much my mum is encouraging me to give up on fanfiction and take advanced Chinese classes.**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ The Bathroom Incident Part Deux

Artemis sat on a beanbag while the new girl slept motionless on her bed. She had a high fever and the ice packs that the two goddesses had very recently put on her forehead we starting to get tepid.

Athena and Artemis had done their best to try and clean her up with warm, wet towels. They had also changed her into a clean nightshift earlier and disinfected her wounds.

And so now, the girl was simply panting heavily while sleeping. Occasionally, she talked too but the phrases never made much sense.

"No… Ladon… don't… Hercules… My father will murder me…" she said, turning her head every few seconds (I practically just gave away her identity). "The apples… Please don't banish me… It wasn't my fault… Hercules…"

From her nonsensical ranting, all they had managed to work out was that the girl was banished from her home, the famous hero Hercules was involved, as was Ladon (the infamous dragon), she was really indecisive and enjoyed eating apples very much (I practically just gave away her entire identity…). 'Strange girl,' Athena thought.

"When do you think she's going to wake up?" Athena asked.

Artemis shrugged. How was she supposed to know when the child would wake up? She wasn't psychic… Nor could she tell the future…  
"Dunno, she looks like she could die at any moment."

Athena chuckled.  
"Thanks for that ginormous boost of confidence. If only she could hear you now."

"Well, I'm going to the bathroom," Artemis said getting up from her seat. She got out of the room and headed for the bathroom to do her business.

When she was done she went to the sink to wash her hands. It was only when the goddess had tried to get some soap out from its dispenser that she realised that what was inside, was not in fact soap. It was baby oil!

Artemis couldn't believe that she had fallen for such a childish prank. It was so naïve that only a god of a hundred years or under would dare to do something so… so…  
"ORION!" she shrieked. "I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!"

Orion came out from behind a wall in the girls' bathroom causing Artemis to scream even louder.

"What the hell are you doing in here?! For Olympus' sake! IT'S THE GIRLS' BATHROOM!" she yelled hitting him with her baby oil covered hands.

This caused Orion to start screaming as well. He was horrified by icky, non-organic chemicals touching his divine skin. At that point in time, Artemis honestly felt like her eardrums were going to burst.

This was just like the time that Orion mistook all of Aphrodite's beauty products as Artemis'. Why was it that everything eardrum-piercing happened in the girls' bathroom?!

* * *

Athena sat next the sleeping girl on another bean bag. 'Artemis sure is taking long in the bathroom…' she thought, 'Maybe she went to get a hot chocolate…' The goddess of wisdom never ever questioned a fellow sister's need of hot chocolate.

She held the girl's hand and felt her pulse. It was steady (despite her coma-like state), like a drum beat. Athena involuntarily started tapping a catchy little beat to go with the bass line.

Minutes passed as the goddess continuously tapped the same beat of her song. She realised that there were really loud shrieks coming from the bathroom. Athena had an urge to go investigate but she knew that it would be very irresponsible to leave an unconscious girl, alone, on Olympus so she didn't.

Minutes later, Athena lifted to head up to see Orion and Athena limping into the room.

"Sorry, Thea…" Artemis groaned, calling her friend by her endearing nickname. "I was held up in the bathroom by a sticky, no oily, situation."

Orion chuckled behind her because of her use of pun.

Although Athena really didn't want to look after the sleeping girl alone, she wanted her friend to be happy.  
"Orion, could you please excuse us for a minute? We'll be done soon, I promise."

The hunter nodded curtly and walked away through the corridor.

Athena turned to face Artemis.  
"It's okay, you can go," she sympathised, "You probably want to go hunting with him or something. Have fun!"

The shocked goddess opened her mouth to protest and waved her hands around to emphasise her unspoken point.  
"No, it's not like that. I can't leave the girl. And I don't even want to go out with him!" she cried rebelliously.

Athena raised a sceptical eyebrow.  
"I may not the goddess of love like Aphrodite, but I am the goddess of wisdom and most importantly, your friend. I can tell when my best friend is crushing on a guy so just leave me here to look after her."

"I'm more than 550 years older than him," Artemis scoffed, "He even told me that himself."

"So?" she retorted, "Look at the age difference between Zeus and Hera. And let's not even get started about Gaia and Tartarus!"

Artemis pondered over it and saw her point.  
"Fine then, but I owe you one then. What do you want?"

Athena gave a victorious smirk and stroked her imaginary goatee.  
"I have something on tonight, you can cover for me then."

"Fine, see you later then," the huntress called, leaving the room.

**Urgh… I'm so glad that I managed to update today. Don't forget about the competition with the details on the top A/N. Make sure to review, follow and fave! :D**

**I'll probably update again in the second week of the holidays (next week).**


	9. There was no Soup!

**OMIGOSH! Blood of Olympus was sooo heart-wrenching! I can't believe that there'll never be another PJO book… :'( I was so excited when I saw Orion's name in BoO. I think I finally have a plot now.**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while! For some reason, my hard-drive crashed and my Sky-drive went missing because I renamed it, 'Backup Sh*t (in case drunk ninjas attack the world)'. Yes, I literally named it 'Backup Sh*t (in case drunk ninjas attack the world)… I couldn't find any of them in my documents so I had to rewrite 3 chapters of my 2 different fanfiction stories.**

**Hope you appreciate me writing this twice.**

**To Goddess of Fangirls:  
Thanks for that entry~! I never used a made up word as an entry in my previous fanfic before… It should be interesting though! :D**

**To TheQueenOfLint:  
It's great that you have a word that matches with Goddess of Fangirl's theme. Two very unique animals… Maybe I can have a chapter where Orion takes Artemis to a zoo or something…**

**To autumnflame:  
Aw… You completed the animal theme! Good job for going with the flow and getting an animal-related word. :) Still don't know what it means but whatever.**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ There was no Soup!

Artemis had a tight grip around Percy's body. She stroked his soft fur and occasionally gave him belly rubs. He purred appreciatively and snuggled comfortably in the cradle of her arms.

"Why are you giving the cat more attention than you're giving me?" Orion teased, "Do you fancy his companionship more than that of mine?"

The goddess snorted elegantly.  
"As a matter of fact, I do. Do you happen to have a problem with that?" She subtly looked at him using her 180 degree peripheral vision to see his reaction.

He seemed to continue to take it as a joke and clasped his hands together over his chest.  
"I'm hurt!" he said in an overly-dramatised fashion, "I'm going to go throw myself off the edge of Mount Olympus just like Zeus did to Hephaestus." Orion walked off to his right in large strides, pretending to look for a cliff.

"If you are going to suicide, the closest mountain edge is actually to your left," she suggested helpfully, "Not to the right."

Orion gave a childish pout that repelled Artemis far more than it attracted her.  
"Wipe that pout off your face. Pouts don't suit that face of yours," she said, disgusted. "It looks horrifying."

He gave a smirk that Artemis had grown to feel slight familiarity to.  
"So you prefer it when I'm happy? Is it because you love me so much?" he said making the 'o' really, really long. "I bet you're get so attached to me," again making the 'o' sound really long.

"You're 600 years too young to even think about dating me," she rejected him, pushing him straight back down. "And even if you were older, your hair sucks."

Orion gasped and looked at his reflection in a very conveniently placed pond. He checked his hair and made a tsk-ing sound with his tongue. Out of his pocket, he pulled out the bottle of hair gel that he always carried around.

Artemis rolled her eyes and was amazed at how conceited one person could be. Who carried a bottle of travel-sized hair gel in their pocket anyway?

"Better?" he asked after reapplying his gel.

There was never anything Artemis had found displeasing about his hair in the first place, she simply needed to make a quick excuse. Needless to say, his hair looked even better afterwards.  
"It looks fine, now can we look for that sacred stag?"

Orion beamed at her compliment and followed after the huntress' footsteps.

* * *

Unfortunately, that night after their collaborated hunt, they couldn't find the stag. But despite that, the two hunters had a great time and they brought back a huge haul of game instead.

Artemis looked at what remained of their catch after she had revived more than half of the animals. It was her duty as the Goddess of the Hunt to not take more lives than necessary. She had to ensure the hunted animals had time to reproduce so their overall population didn't dwindle.

"Not bad for an afternoon's work," she evaluated, referring to the 6 turkeys, 11 sparrows and 2 deer (that weren't sacred, of course) lying on the large table.

The unbearably handsome hunter agreed.  
"You're not bad… For a girl," he finished bluntly.

The feministic goddess snorted at the latter part of his comment.  
"Sexist pig," she muttered under her breathe. "Gods, he's such an attractive sexist pig."

Orion smirked, hearing her words.  
"I know I am."

* * *

Artemis headed back to her room to meet up with Athena. To her surprise the formerly unconscious girl was sitting upright in the bed with her obsidian eyes open.

Athena gestured to the girl.  
"This girl refers to herself as Zoe Nightshade. She's a daughter of Atlas," she explained.

Artemis got over her shock and decided to ask Zoe a couple of questions.  
"Why are you all the way here at Mount Olympus? Aren't you one of the Hesperides?"

Zoe nodded, blinking back tears.  
"I ran away," she admitted. "I was tricked by Hercules into committing treason against my family so I came here to ask you for help."

"How am I supposed to help?" she asked, with a confused look on her face.

"I don't know… I was banished and this was the first place I could think of. I guess I didn't have much of a plan. In that case, I just leave," she said pushing herself out of the bed.

"No!" Athena protested, "You're not fully healed yet. No leaving this bed for at least two days. Doctor's prescription." She pushed squares of ambrosia into the girl's mouth and managed to poke a straw in. "Drink," she commanded.

Zoe complied and sucked up the sweet liquid of the immortals.

"Why were you so injured?" Artemis continued, "Usually, banishment doesn't include torture!"

The embarrassed girl looked away.  
"I was so infatuated with Hercules that I even stole the Golden Fleece from my father. He promised that I could be his wife," she sobbed. "My father beat me up before banishing me."

"Don't worry about marriage at such a young age," Athena advised, "I'd choose wisdom over those of the opposite gender any day." To top it off, she snorted with disdain.

"I'm 200," Zoe mentioned quietly without anyone hearing her.

"Yet you adore Poseidon," Artemis countered.

"Yet you adore Orion," she mimicked with almost perfect accuracy.

'Touché,' the goddess thought.  
"I just like his line of work, that's all. There is absolutely no adoration involved."

That was the perfect moment for Orion to poke his head around the corner.  
"Dinner's ready!" he announced before leaving just as quickly as he had come.

"That's the guy Artie likes," Athena whispered loudly to Zoe.

Zoe giggled.

* * *

"I didn't even know he could cook," Artemis grumbled.

"At least he can cook," Athena shot back, "Last summer, Poseidon managed to burn soup."  
She angrily shoved a fork with a piece of sparrow into her mouth.

"How do you burn soup?!" she asked, bewildered. She had abandoned her table etiquette and was talking with her mouth open.

"I don't know!" Athena replied. "There was no soup!" she screamed with a quiet, raspy voice.

"I don't know about this guy's personality, but his cooking is amazing," Zoe told Artemis, "I approve of your relationship. Men who can cook are a rare find indeed."

Artemis and Athena gave each other strange looks.

"What about a man who burns soup?" Athena asked. She was curious to know what another girl's perspective on the man she fancied was.

"Useless. Cooking is an essential skill," Zoe stated matter-of-factly.

**Reading Blood of Olympus was so exciting! I'm not going to spoil it for you guys but it was so awesome that I got mega-feels!**

**Please follow, fave and review. Remember that I don't mind criticism, help with my story or even flames. Flame away~ Also, the three words from my competition will be in the next chapter. The contest in still open so feel free to send me your randomest word via reviews. Thanks!**


	10. A Research Trip to Remember

**Good job! +1000 views. I know it's really not a lot compared to my other fanfic but I guess it's something. It's so nice to know that people actually read this stuff! *sniff sniff***

**To teamleo4:  
Okay, the thing is that I decided to write this fanfic and make it so that Zoe would be the first Hunter ever. Additionally, Orion isn't going to be a Hunter in this version so I'm just going to make them friends… For now. My fanfic sounds a little cliché, but don't worry, I have a huge plot-twist at the end. Thanks for your entry and look out for your word in this chapter.**

**To Fairytail5evaJCL:  
Hey Ro, thanks for your review and your very nice compliment. I just wish that Artemis would eat Athena's nose though… *INSIDE JOKE, PEOPLE!***

**I know I haven't updated in the while but I was waiting for more entries. I guess that these are all the entries I'm going get…**

**In 1****st**** Place: TheQueenOfLint! (pangolin)  
I just love that word. It was a huge trend our school went through.**

**In 2****nd**** Place: teamleo4! (epiphany)  
Great work. At first I had no idea what it was but as soon as I googled it, I realised how awesome it would be for this chapter. Good job! :)**

**In 3****rd**** Place: Goddess of Fangirls! (porcoose)  
I really wanted to try a made up word for once! XD**

**I know that I never usually do this but I wanted to put in a fourth winner because of how well the word works with the animal theme so…**

**In 4****th**** Place/Encouragement/Whatever-you-call-it: autumnflame! (verbargastropoda)**

**Congratulations to all winners and TheQueenOfLint who has already received this chapter in his/her (probably a her because she's a queen) inbox last week.**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ A Research Trip to Remember

"Okay then," Artemis told her friend, "I guess it's your turn to have fun with Poseidon."

"Thanks Artie!" Athena squealed, abandoning her usual grace and ladylike manners. She gave her fellow goddess a life-threatening bear hug, grabbing her and skipped merrily out of the room.

Artemis smirked and rolled her eyes at her overexcited friend. Zoe had already woken up so Artemis didn't really see the point of someone staying behind. Athena had explained it as protecting a newly woken girl from angry immortals such as her titan parents. It was an **epiphany** of sorts that she was actually one of the Hesperides!

Athena was taking Poseidon along to the Olympian zoo on a "research trip". The goddess of wisdom had even created a worksheet just for the two of them to complete. 'Who the hell made a worksheet for a recreational excursion to the zoo?!' Artemis thought. Athena did apparently.

Artemis sighed loudly and thought about what she was going to do for the rest of the night. She used her tailbone to pivot around the bed and she turned to face Zoe, who had been ignored till now. She made the number 'one' with each of her hands and held them out.  
"Would you care for a game of chopsticks?" she asked hopefully.

* * *

Athena had arranged a nice study session with Poseidon at the zoo. She desperately needed to gather more knowledge on fauna for educational purposes.

'That's right,' she told herself, 'Educational purposes. I'm only doing this for educational purposes. Not for anything else. It's just… Educational purposes.' She kept on trying to convince herself of her true intentions and that's when she realised that she had reached the place where she had told Poseidon to meet her.

"What about educational purposes?" he asked bored.

And that was when she realised, that she had been talking out loud. In actual fact, they weren't even meant to meet up for another 20 minutes; Athena just liked getting to places early. She flushed a slight shade of pink. She found it adorable that he liked being punctual too.  
"It's nothing," she said. Athena got two scrolls out of her satchel and handed one to him. "This is a worksheet that I have created for this outing."

Poseidon narrowed his eyes judgementally but he didn't say anything. Sure he was a bit peeved about having to exercise his brain cells but he really didn't want to upset her so he decided not to burst her little bubble of happiness.  
"Sounds great!" he grinned, getting a quill out of his own satchel.

Athena walked towards the zoo admission and paid out a drachma as the god beside her did the same.

"Would you like a colouring booklet?" the lady inside asked irritatingly.

"I'm 637 for heaven's sake," she told the annoying woman.

"I'll take one," Poseidon said, interested in those types of childish antics. He took a booklet from the large stack of paper.

* * *

"And that one," Athena pointed out, "Is a **pangolin**." They watched a scaly anteater-like animal crawl across its habitat for a lap of water.  
The entire night, it had seemed as if she was doing all the work and Poseidon was just trailing around, copying the answers down the moment she gave them to him.  
"Pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same protein that makes up our own hair and nails. Their scales cover the entire body from head to tip of tail — except for their undersides, which are covered with a few sparse hairs."

"So the answer's B, right?" he referred to the multiple choice answer.

"Yeah… That…" she replied.

"It doesn't really look like a pangolin… It should be a porcupine… Or a really small and disproportioned moose…" Poseidon argued, "Or a **porc-oose**."

Athena gave him a small smile for his creative imagination. At the rate that they were going, the worksheet would be completed in no time at all.

"What are those?" Poseidon asked, pointing to what seemed like a cluster of shells.

She went back into 'information mode'.  
"Those are actually snails. They leave a lot of mucus behind them so in some languages, their species is referred to as 'snot bugs.' These snails belong to the class of **verbargastropoda**."

Poseidon nodded with a forced smile,  
"Yup! Totally!"

Athena felt a grinding pain in the pits of her stomach. She turned on her foot to look him in the eyes.  
"I know you don't want to be here, so why are you?" she demanded. "Who sent you to spy on me?"

The young god was stumped for words. As a part of the Big Three, never had he been addressed to rudely.

"You're not even interested in animals or the symbiotic relationships in particular environments. Why did you agree to come with me to study them then?"

Poseidon swallowed down his pride.  
"You're right," he admitted, "I'm not at all interested in animals."

"HA!" she cried, "I knew it! So why are you here if you aren't interested in anything. Did someone pay you? Who?"

Poseidon sighed deeply in frustration.  
"I said that I wasn't interested in the animals. I came here, because I'm interested in you."

And so, now it was Athena's turn to be at a loss of words to say.

**Kay, hope you enjoyed this! Please fave/follow/review to show your appreciation! :D**

**Bring on the flames~**


	11. Athena the Part-ay Animal!

**SORRY, SORRY, SORRY! Again, emotional trauma. I'll try to update more.**

**To Innoc3ntKitt3n:  
That entry was a bit late but don't worry, you can save it for the next competition. It'll be up in another 10 chapters. *pat pat***

**To Fairytail5evaJCL:  
Yush, Ro! The Pothena fluff! It's so adorable 3 Well, there goes your nose… Believe in the waffle Rosy, you must believe in the waffle!**

**To ImSienablaze88DaughterOfHades:  
I know, Zumba. I just put it in there because we have compulsory Zumba lessons every Wednesday morning. :D**

**To Goddess of Fangirls:  
Thanks for your compliments! I can just my already giant ego growing even bigger. So thanks for that entry, and I hope you'll also be in the aforementioned next competition. I wish you luck in getting through your school drama. :)**

**ON WITH THE CHAPTER~**

_**The Vow of Eternal Maidenhood:**_ Athena the Part-ay Animal!

Artemis tapped Zoe's left hand with her right one.  
"Ha!" she cried, "I win!

"What are you talking about?" Zoe asked, changing the number on her left hand to two.

"I just took you out of the game… Four plus three is bigger than five, so you're dead."

Zoe frowned, "That's not right," she complained, "We're playing with leftovers, right?" she asked innocently. "Four plus three minus five is two… That means we're still playing, right?"

The lunar goddess scowled and folded her arms. She turned her back towards Zoe.  
"I refuse to play with a cheat."

"Well, I refuse to play with someone who doesn't explain the rules properly," she shot back judgementally.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Finer."

"Finest."

"Whatever's finer than finest."

Thankfully for Zoe, she didn't have to think of a word finer than finest-er because Athena took that opportunity to burst through the door.  
"Guess what, guess what, guess what!" she squealed, excited.

Artemis gave her best friend a once-over. Athena's knees were closer together than usual and buckling, indicating nervousness. Her hands were gripped into fists, showing excitement. And a giant grin, definitely some kind of good news.  
"Let me guess," she started. "The zoo was giving away free colouring pads?"

Athena scrunched up her eyebrows,  
"No, that's not it. They were giving them away but that's not what I'm talking about…"

"Go on then, keep standing there and don't tell me," she said sarcastically.

"Don-don, no sorry, Poseidon, he… He… Said…" Athena stuttered.

Artemis was going to mention something about her friend's OOC-ness. And of course, the usage of such an embarrassing nickname for a member of the Big Three but she didn't. Why? Because Athena had already given her a facial expression that said, 'keep-quiet-or-I'll-chop-your-head-off'.

"Don-don said that he liked me. He confessed!" she announcing, jumping up and down.

"Oh…" Artemis rolled her eyes. She turned around to look Zoe in the eyes. "It took him a while."

Zoe agreed with a hasty nod.  
"Took him a while, didn't it."

Athena wrinkled her nose,  
"I can't believe you ruined that moment. It was meant to be surprise…" she whined.

"Eh…" Artemis shrugged, "It's not like we didn't expect it already."

"Artie. I despise you."

* * *

"What a pathetic excuse for a guy," Orion snorted. "He could've mentioned it centuries ago."

"At least he had the guts to say it out loud," Artemis retorted. "At least he's no coward."

"I'm no coward either," he said, aiming for a partridge flitting off from a pear tree. The hunter let the arrow fly and with extreme accuracy, and hit its target.

"Good job," she commented on his skill before letting her own arrows loose. It pierced two pigeons which came down to the ground with a thud. "Coward," she added afterwards.

"Not bad," he complimented, "For a girl." He walked towards the pear tree to collect his bird.

"Sexist pig," she said following him to collect her pair of birds.

Orion scratched his head.

"So hypothetically, if I like someone, how can I be guaranteed that they'll like me back?" he asked sheepishly.

"You can't…" she replied, "It's all a matter of your charm, personality, etcetera."

He narrowed his eyes,  
"I could possibly like someone…" he admitted.

Artemis imitated his actions,  
"As could I," she confessed.

Orion's eyes seemed to light up with hope, that is, before Artemis added the second part of her opinion.  
"As long as he's brave enough to say it to my face," she continued.

* * *

"You guys up for a game tonight?" Athena asked. "I'm in a good mood~" she said with a sing-song voice.

Zoe bit her lower lip.  
"Sure."

"Artie? You in?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Artemis trailed off, with her mind still on the afternoon's events.

"What kind of game?" Zoe asked with a huge grin on her face.

Athena blanched,  
"Trivia?" she suggested lamely.

"How about a game of Truth or Dare?" Zoe asked the rest of the trio. "My sisters and I used to play that all the time…"

"Hmm… it sounds nice enough, but I've never heard of it before… Zoe, you'll have to explain the rules to us later," Athena agreed. "Artie. Artie! ARTEMIS!"

Artemis snapped out of her trance.  
"Wha-?"

"We're playing Truth or Dare. Got that?"

"Yeah… Sure…"

"Although…" Athena smirked mischievously, "It might be boring with just us…"

"We could always invite some other underage Olympians over," Zoe told everyone.

Artemis finally decided to contribute to the conversation.  
"Athena?"

"Yeah?"

"If this is what happens to you after one night out, I'd hate to see what would happen to you if you became a party animal."

**Thanks for reading this! Hope you look out for my next chapter (with my updating rate, chances are, it's going to take forever). I'm thinking about having an emergency contest because apparently, loads of fanfic readers are being repelled by my crappy summaries. So… best submitted summary gets a prize?**

**Don't forget to fave, follow and review! :D**


	12. Truth or Dare

Hey everyone… I actually have a problem. When I said that I was going to do Truth or Dare, this is what I meant to say. I'm a girl who has extreme problems with Writer's Block syndrome who isn't original at all and doesn't even have a plot prepared for her fanfiction. When I posted the last chapter, I was actually implying that I needed ideas from readers for truths and dares because if you leave it to me, I'll probably dare someone to eat beef jerky or something. A reader can send as many suggestions as he/she likes. In fact, the more the merrier (Get it? Merry-er? Inside joke, well, not that inside…)! As many truths and dares as possible!

TheGoddessOfDuckTape out~  
I'll update ASAP when I get enough suggestions.


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